Archive for the 'education' category

Sometimes open source ideals make for the strangest–and most wonderful–bedfellows. We met Dr. Vandana Shiva–physicist, scientist, environmentalist, and activist–several years ago. Her work saving seeds and protecting traditional knowledge in the farming industry parallels the openness, transparency, collaboration and freedom of open source ideology. Her simple, clear explanation of why knowledge should be shared–and the devastating results should it be hoarded–is part of the essential truth that makes the work we do so incredibly important. But don’t take our word for it.

It’s been a while since we posted a good round-up, and there’s so much we’ve come across lately that we really wanted to tell you about. In no particular order, here’s a list of things that have piqued our interest in the last few weeks:

Check out Gobby on fedoraproject.org. For those not in the know, Gobby is “a free collaborative editor supporting multiple documents in one session and a multi-user chat. It runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other Unix-like platforms.”

Dave Eggers, winner of a 2008 TED prize, wants 1,000 people to engage with their local public schools through onceuponaschool.org. They need domain hosting, developers, and non-technical people. A perfect opportunity to combine open source’s benefits with education…

Love. As in the love of game development. Check out the amazing graphics in this multiplayer first-person shooter game that was created entirely by one person.

You’re going to have to pull yourself away from the screen sooner or later. When you’re looking for something to eat this weekend, may we recommend bacon cups? (Because here at Red Hat Magazine? We like bacon.)

Neil Gaiman’s giving away books and name-checking Cory Doctorow. Trent Reznor’s up to much of the same with NIN’s new album, Ghosts. Yay for major artists getting on the sharing bandwagon.

And speaking of Cory Doctorow, check out this list of 20 science fiction novels that will change your life. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a particular favorite and shouldn’t be missed. But what’s your favorite that didn’t make the cut? For us? Madeline L’Engle’s transformative series about the Wallace family, starting with A Wrinkle in Time.

Did you know Red Hat’s introducing online training? When we heard that, we went digging to find somebody that could tell us more. Joshua M. Hoffman, the Product Manager for Virtual Training / Live Access Labs, was willing to fill us in. So here’s the details on Linux training… from the comfort of your living room.» Read more

Will democratizing sustainable housing be enough to change Canada? It’s too early to tell, but there’s a start. Open source can make sustainable designs available. Nobody owns it, everybody can use it, and anybody can improve it. The Now House is one sustainable housing design project created by one small team. What would happen if one hundred teams created projects like this? » Read more

Last weekend I finished reading this book and watched Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, all in the span of 24 hours. Thoughts of global warming, the threat of a permanently altered planet, and extreme poverty killing thousands every day were swimming in my mind. While I felt a sense of urgency, I also felt conflicted. Because it’s hard to feel urgent about both. In fact, history shows it’s hard for the US government to give urgent attention to more than one crisis at a time. So what to do in the face of such cultural monsters?

It’s been almost two weeks since Graduation Day. The kids produced great work. The parents and instructors were all terribly proud. Everybody went home and got plenty of sleep. Now that the buzz has just about worn off, it’s time to reflect on what we accomplished, and what exactly we should do next.» Read more

Episode 04 takes us on location in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Where the first batches of XOs have been delivered and deployed. Meet the teachers using the laptops in the classroom. Where besides doing daily assignments on the machines, some students have already learned programing. Local culture has permeated the project, and as a veteran school principal explains, an improved education is set to equip a new generation of Brazilian citizens. Watch past episodes.

Iraq war veteran and Marine reservist, Jonathan Kuniholm, lost his arm to an IED (improvised explosive device). Kuniholm returned home to the US and was fitted with a prosthetic arm. But he soon became dissatisfied with the mobility and range of motion the prosthesis allowed. Like all who love to tinker, his frustration led to invention. And Tackle Design was born.» Read more

Canada is losing the environmental fight. It joins the ever-growing ranks of wealthy countries unable to meet their Kyoto Protocol goals. Between 1990 and 2004, Canada increased green house gas (GHG) emissions by 22%, sparking this comment in 2006 from Environment Minister Rona Ambrose: “it is impossible for Canada to reach its Kyoto targets.” » Read more